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Pune engineers design a really smart helmet!

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our engineering students design a unique helmet that ensures your bike doesn't start unless you wear the safety gear. The third year diploma students have made use of a FM receiver and transmitter system for their project

The third year diploma students have made use of a FM receiver and transmitter system for their project DNA CorrespondentDNA

Pune: Four automobile engineering diploma students of Indapur (Pune) based S B Patil Engineering College have designed a unique helmet, that ensures you wear it or else your motorbike refuses to start.For the intelligent helmet to work, the innovative third year students have made use of a FM receiver and transmitter system. They have fitted the rear side of the helmet with a battery operated transmitter system, a small antenna and a switch in the helmet's inside panel. The FM receiver with an antenna is installed near the ignition coil on the bike, with a connection to the bike's battery and relay system.Wearing the helmet presses the inside panel switch, signalling the transmitter that the biker is ready for a ride. The transmitter then signals the receiver on the bike, which in-turn sends signal to relay system to ignite the ignition coil and the bike gears into action.On how the idea was developed, Sanket Kulkarni, who is part of the helmet innovation team said, "How to make it mandatory for people to wear helmets and comply by road safety rules, posed a unique challenge to us. After a lot of brain storming, we ended with ride-safe-or-no-ride idea. Our work involved experimenting with sophisticatedequipment and refining number of times, till we got the right-end results."It took the third year students one year to bring the idea into reality. However, the students admit that the project needs further refining and they would require sophisticated equipment like sensor technology to better its results.Another student, Tejas Menon said that they can make their design much more effective, if they use sensor technology. "We hope that our innovation inspires people to use helmets and make their bike ride a safer experience," he said. The other students who worked on the project are Vaibhav Jagtap and Kiran Kolekar.Appreciating the students innovative zest, college principal Mandar Kulkarni said that the project is in a primary stage and needs further modifications to make transmitter-receiver interface more effective. The project cost comes to not more than Rs 1000, which means that making rides safer won't be too heavy on your pocket too.